Due to gridlock Traffic and the inability of emergency equipment/vehicles to move along Memorial Drive, Voss, Beinhorn and Greenbay. VOSS ROAD HAS BEEN CLOSED AT I-10 for all southbound traffic except for supply/equipment deliveries, area repair services/personnel, first responders and residents who live in the area. ID's will be checked.

Due to gridlock Traffic and the inability of emergency equipment/vehicles to move along Memorial Drive, Voss, Beinhorn and Greenbay. VOSS ROAD HAS BEEN CLOSED AT I-10 for all southbound traffic except for supply/equipment deliveries, area repair services/personnel, first responders and residents who live in the area. ID's will be checked.

8/31/2017 22:51 - Thursday Night Update
▲

Hello neighbors, Here is the Thursday night update:

1: Water levels stable

Over the last 24h we have seen the stabilization of water levels along Buffalo in the Memorial area, broadly defined. This is just my conclusion form direct observation here and outside the beltway. Level came up a little bit here in the Villages, but is now unchanging. Water has stopped rising outside the beltway best I can tell. I would describe this length of the channel as placid.

I understand the Corps is holding discharge levels constant at current levels for the intermediate term. That tells me I should expect no meaningful change for a while. Hedwig Village remains unaffected, so I’ll just give you an update of what this means as a practical matter.

2: Water Level Impacts

1) The bridges will be closed for a while. Don’t cross them.

2) The sewer treatment plant remains offline; MVWA is endeavoring to have it back up soon. However, until the water actually recedes, you may see sluggishness in your toilets and sink drains.

3) If you wish, you can help the collectors by moving your HOUSEHOLD trash to the curb. If you do so, move all of it. Don’t split your locations.

4: Safety

The Villages law enforcement agencies are all working very well together, and are getting additional support from outside agencies. Do not be surprised to see a Hedwig car outside of Hedwig Village, or a Memorial Villages car or Spring Valley car in our area. SBISD police are really helping out as well. Supplementing our Villages law enforcement are: Houston PD, Texas DPS, and Texas National Guard.

Call HVPD to report ANY suspicious activity 24x7. Their phone number is: 713-461-4797. Put it in your phone right now. They will check out any suspicious vehicle or person in the area. The Villages will be strictly enforcing their no-solicitation ordinances right now. Do not hesitate to call. Call 911 in an emergency.

10pm-5am. I am aware that ours is earlier than Houston’s. If you are providing aid to a family member in need elsewhere in the City of Houston and require dispensation, please be in touch directly with me. It will be provided.

I have just heard from our provider: Trash will be collected tomorrow. Only household trash will be collected, NO DEBRIS. This means all your bags that have been piling up by our backdoor will be gone, but they won’t take any limbs yet.

Collectors will be coming to the backdoor. If you would like to help them out a little bit, you may elect to move household trash to the curbside, but this is by no means a requirement for collection.

Thank you.

Brian

PS: For further questions or concerns, please call City Hall at 713-465-6009.

Let me preface this by saying The City of Hedwig Village is safe from bayou waters. We have nothing to worry about.

I watched the 8PM press conference on Channel 2. I have decided to put away my slide-rule and pay attention to the plain language statements that are coming from water level leadership — the Army Corps and HC Flood Control. When I roll all that together, I explain it casually to people that ask as follows.

The Army Corps owns all the water above the dam. The reservoirs are full. The Corps is going to drain them as safely and as rapidly as possible. They will be making occasional operating adjustments to the discharge levels to prosecute this. They are doing their job to keep the watershed safe. Thanks to them for managing this big responsibility.

Flood Control catches all that water and is doing truly incredible work to analyze the effect it will have on the neighborhoods that are closest to the waterline. Flood Control’s input parameters change slightly as they work closely with the Corps; FC then takes those operating tweaks from the Corps and perform these incredibly complex calculations in real time.

From what I’m seeing on the inside, they are doing an admirable job on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis, trying to get as much information to people as possible, with continual intraday updates. Thanks to that whole team for their efforts to keep the public as informed as possible so they can make smart decisions.

4: Trash:

Trash update is “most likely Friday” from our provider. Will be household items only. NO DEBRIS. The good news is we don’t have that much debris. Final confirmation coming Thursday AM. Trucks are here, HV access is available, they are waiting for the landfills to spin up operations. They did some test runs with medical waste at the landfills today.

5: I found the High School kids:

They are at MDPC, St. Cecelia, and certainly other locations doing heartwarming humanitarian work if you need them.

6: Safety:

Everybody is back on the roads as of today, and we’re a little out of practice. Please remember that kids are not in school and are back on bikes on the roads. There are still people in the villages (the guys with the boats rendering aid) that are unfamiliar with our meandering streets who naturally slow the traffic down.

Under no circumstance are you to drive across a bridge on the bayou. Please don’t do it. Water levels there will continue to fluctuate slightly, and the bridges are expected to be impassible again soon (no worse that before). They will probably go back and forth for a few days. They are closed until further notice by their jurisdictions and are being guarded by Texas DPS.

7: Mayoral editorialization on Channel 2 News coverage:

Channel 2 News. Tonight for about 10 minutes KPRC did its thing. They broadcast some of the most captivating aerial video footage of my hometown that I have ever seen, including, detailed and extended aerial footage of the Memorial area. Sincerest thanks to that organization for this effort. It was very informative factual video evidence delivered live. That helps.

Here’s the thing about Channel 2: you need to assure your right thumb is firmly atop the MUTE button while watching. During this exclusive LIVE and first-to-air video broadcasting, the anchors decided to become experts in a field where nobody is an expert: Natural Disasters. That doesn’t help.

I have watched Bill Balleza since I was a kid. I have always found him to be the most dependable voice on that network. I would have expected him to get the facts first, then deliver them accurately, especially at a time like this. I am glad he walked back his editorial comments, albeit much later and after the Villages were already alarmed by editorial innuendo.

I trust Frank Billingsley to analyze the water from the clouds to the ground. I’ll let the Corps and HCFC handle it from there.

Dominique Sachse showed us that real-time hydrological analysis is demonstrably not her strong suit. It would be great for her to stay in her lane. Or, at least, quickly return there once she knows she has strayed. For context, all this non-reporting about the Villages happened immediately before the actual experts were about to deliver their highly-informed actual-reporting.

8/30/2017 11:30 - Electricity and Water Concerns from the Fire Chief
▲

Good morning.

The storm has passed and we will begin the recovery period. The following information pertains to all residents but is particularly critical for homes that flooded and the power is off.

As power is restored, there is a chance of a fault in the home’s electrical system. During the storm we had several houses burn their breaker boxes. If your home is flooded and without power, I strongly recommend having a qualified electrician check your electrical system before your power is switched back on.

Have a safe day.

David Foster
Fire Chief
Village Fire Department

8/29/2017 23:26 - Update from Hedwig Village Mayor - Tuesday Night
▲

Hello neighbors, Here is the Tuesday night update:

You can sign up to receive these directly and faster at www.HedwigTx.gov. There’s a big red box on the front page you can’t miss; just click it to enter your information.

I’d appreciate your doing this as it will give us a direct line for future updates and save staff time.

1: Dam rumors:

There are unfounded rumors out there that there is a problem with the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs. THESE ARE NOT TRUE. Flood Control and the ACOE held their PC at 8:00 to talk about the dams above Buffalo Bayou as part of their usual update. They reported exactly what was expected: the levees are robust and operating EXACTLY as designed and expected.

2: Bayou Water Level:

Also at their PC, Flood Control reiterated its 7:30pm statement to Village Mayors that we in the Villages will see no net change in the next 24 hours. Folks closer to the dams will see a modest water rise because of increased controlled releases, but those rises are estimated to be twelve inches or less in the next 24 hours (over current condition). The cause of this difference in result is simply the fact that they are upstream of the confluence of the two bayous coming out of the two dams. That creates a bottleneck and backs water up in that area. We are below that bottleneck.

3: Curfew:

Hedwig Village is following City of Houston's lead and instituting a curfew from 10pm - 5am effective tonight, Tuesday, August 29th. This is a prophylactic measure, not a reactive measure. Spring Valley, for example, has had one in place for 2 days. Other Memorial Villages are expected to follow suit. It is also to allow all law enforcement agencies to operate on the same page.

We are not observing any problems. This curfew will help us highlight any problems that are coming our way. For example, adherence to the curfew takes non-villages cars off our streets. This makes potential bad actors more visible by the process of elimination. The same applies to pedestrian traffic. Bad guys become very easy to spot when they are the only ones out at night.

Chief Gott asks that you please call HVPD to report ANY suspicious activity, anything that seems unusual. If you see someone on your street who you don’t know from there, call HVPD. We will happily check them out. If you see a car on your street that you don’t generally see, call HVPD, they will send a unit right over to check it out. Also, please follow normal safety tips: make use of your outdoor lights as deterrence, keep doors locked, alarms turned on; the things you should do everyday.

In addition to your diligence, HVPD is specifically: increasing manpower on the streets, operating with overhead lights on to be more visible to you guys and any bad guys, and maintaining relief personnel at the station to keep additional bodies available so our on-duty guys stay fresh. HVPD is communicating well with other agencies offering assistance as needed and keeping abreast of conditions. Other force multipliers are in place as well. I love it when Chief uses terms like like “force multipliers”, BTW.

4: Trash:

Hedwig Village Trash is no sooner than Thursday. Our provider has its expanded fleet in order and ready to come. The problems are 1) access to the city, and 2) the landfills remain closed due to the fact they are underwater. Once those conditions clear, nothing stands in the way of getting the trash away from your backdoor.

5: Water:

The water system remains safe. While we are well supplied, we continue to waste resources on sprinkler use at a rate of 2,000 gallons per minute. Compare that to non-sprinkler use at around 1,000 gallons per minute. Please, unplug your controller.

7: Safety:

With no more rain in the immediate forecast our biggest current threat is probably toppled trees and downed power lines. Please be mindful of the saturated ground that makes trees more prone to toppling.

Do not attempt to cross the bridges. They remain unsafe. Do not compound the problem.

6: Hijinx Update:

High school nonsense has trended way down since yesterday. Please spread the word about the curfew.

(i) The Water Authority confirmed tonight our Villages water supply remains safe and the system is operating fine. They confirm we are in good shape right now

(ii) Having said that, I am reiterating: PLEASE, turn off your sprinkler system. I saw many systems running today. Not only are they literally adding water to the flood, they are more importantly consuming valuable water resources we are foolish to waste. If everybody turned off their system, we would probably double our effective stored supply.

(iii) If you don’t know how to turn your sprinkler off, simply unplug your controller from the wall.

2) 8:45PM Bayou Level update:

Harris County Flood Control and the Army Corps of Engineers held a press conference today at 2PM. Then they said that no material change is expected in the level of Buffalo Bayou. They reiterated that position directly to Village Mayors around 4PM.

They have just held another press conference around 8pm. I did not hear anything that indicated that we should expect a change to their prior position. After the 8PM press conference, I spoke personally with the Flood Control representative to confirm. He confirms there is no expected material change to the level of Buffalo Bayou downstream of the dam. They are going to update again tomorrow morning.

This information is more germane to folks nearer the bayou, but I want to put it out there for you to share some comfort.

3) Safety:

(i) Do not attempt to cross the bayou. People are thinking they can make it and are flooding their cars. We then have to send rescue personnel in to save them. This is bad on many levels. I heard a report on the radio earlier that there were “30 more cars flooded out” on a closed bridge. Please, do not try to cross the bayou.

(ii) Some trees are beginning to uproot because the ground is saturated. Please be cautious of downed power lines around fallen trees, and also the increased risk of toppling if we get higher winds. Call Village FD to report a downed tree.

(iii) Reiterating, do not play or loiter in flood waters. I saw an open manhole today (since replaced). It would have been obscured by the slightest floodwaters and been a real hazard. Even with perfect execution, we wouldn’t know about an open manhole until after waters recede. Do not risk walking into one.

4) Garbage collection:

The earliest possibility for collection is Wednesday. Our provider is bringing additional assets from down Dallas to assist with collection. The ability to access us from outside the area is the biggest issue / question at this point.

5) General tomfoolery & other shenanigans:

I am the father of three younger kids and I understand their restlessness with school out. I would ask you to please be mindful of your younger kids innocently playing outside; consider the floodwaters risk I mentioned earlier or the possibility of a storm kicking up with winds and its effect on trees. The Villages are generally a very safe place, but they are somewhat less safe now because of the weather reality we are facing. Extra supervision is needed.

I am also a former 18 year old high school male. Again, I understand restlessness. As one example of how it is manifesting itself, I directly observed high school kids attempting to “innocently” wakeboard behind their pickup on Piney Point road this afternoon. This type of thing is not helpful.

We have first-responder resources in the Villages, in fact more than we usually do. They are having to also work harder than they usually do, and reserve personnel are unable to access our area right now. The resources are finite in this regard. So, every response to an incident that could have been avoided is one less resource available to respond to an emergency that can’t be avoided. Please do what you can to help younger adults internalize this.

6) Finally, thank you to all who have shown up to provide moral and food support to our first-responders. They really appreciate those gestures.

Yesterday, Sunday, the fire department and police departments rescued well over 100 people from the flood waters.

Today, the eye of the storm will be turning towards the Houston area. We will see an increase in winds. The higher winds may cause trees or tree limbs to fall. If this trees fall onto power lines they can pull the power lines down.

Typically for power line down calls, we will send out a fire truck to secure its safety until the power company arrives to secure the line. However, with the high number of this type call today and this week, I expect the number of fire trucks will be overwhelmed by the number of power lines down.

If you see a power line down, do not approach the line. Call 911, we will send out a fire truck. If there is no fire, firefighters will put “fire line” tape around the power line. We will immediately notify the power company. The power company will put the call on their list of responses. If the power line is in a yard, we will speak with the resident and provide appropriate cautions. We will then have to leave the line and run another call.

With the high winds and saturated ground, we will have trees falling. Please consider your safety if you decide to walk the neighborhoods. A tree can fall without warning.

David Foster
Fire Chief
Village Fire Department

8/27/2017 18:28 - Update from Hedwig Village Mayor re Hurricane▲

Hello Hedwig Village neighbors, here is a quick update.

1) Trash will NOT be collected tomorrow. Please continue to store trash at your "backdoor" pickup location. We will have more information on the collection schedule tomorrow afternoon and will advise.

2) The drinking water is safe and the water system is sound. Please assure that your irrigation systems are turned off.

3) DO NOT PLAY OR LOITER IN FLOODWATERS. Floodwaters obscure hazards like open manholes. You don't want to fall into one.

4) Call 911 if you have an emergency. HVPD, Village Fire, and other village first responders are working *unbelievably* hard to keep people safe, especially along areas near the bayou. They remain doubly-staffed and ready to respond if you have an emergency.

5) The sanitary sewer system is overloaded with all the rainwater. You may experience some minor backups or sluggish draining inside your home. Also, wastewater will, to some degree, commingle with the floodwater. All the more reason to stay out of it.

6) If you find yourself in need of shelter during the storm, Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church is operating as an emergency shelter. Hedwig Village City Hall is ready as a secondary location.

7) Finally, please exercise extreme caution when driving. There have been two fatalities in the broader Villages area. Both were from a car driving into high water.

Brian T. Muecke Mayor of Hedwig Village 713-828-1223 (Call or Text)

8/27/2017 17:11
- Update on Trash Service▲

Update on Trash Service for Monday, August 28th

There will be no trash service on Monday, August 28, 2017. As soon as our third party trash collector confirms they are able to resume service we will forward that information.

Let me preface this by saying The City of Hedwig Village is safe from bayou waters. We have nothing to worry about.

I watched the 8PM press conference on Channel 2. I have decided to put away my slide-rule and pay attention to the plain language statements that are coming from water level leadership — the Army Corps and HC Flood Control. When I roll all that together, I explain it casually to people that ask as follows.

The Army Corps owns all the water above the dam. The reservoirs are full. The Corps is going to drain them as safely and as rapidly as possible. They will be making occasional operating adjustments to the discharge levels to prosecute this. They are doing their job to keep the watershed safe. Thanks to them for managing this big responsibility.

Flood Control catches all that water and is doing truly incredible work to analyze the effect it will have on the neighborhoods that are closest to the waterline. Flood Control’s input parameters change slightly as they work closely with the Corps; FC then takes those operating tweaks from the Corps and perform these incredibly complex calculations in real time.

From what I’m seeing on the inside, they are doing an admirable job on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis, trying to get as much information to people as possible, with continual intraday updates. Thanks to that whole team for their efforts to keep the public as informed as possible so they can make smart decisions.

4: Trash:

Trash update is “most likely Friday” from our provider. Will be household items only. NO DEBRIS. The good news is we don’t have that much debris. Final confirmation coming Thursday AM. Trucks are here, HV access is available, they are waiting for the landfills to spin up operations. They did some test runs with medical waste at the landfills today.

5: I found the High School kids:

They are at MDPC, St. Cecelia, and certainly other locations doing heartwarming humanitarian work if you need them.

6: Safety:

Everybody is back on the roads as of today, and we’re a little out of practice. Please remember that kids are not in school and are back on bikes on the roads. There are still people in the villages (the guys with the boats rendering aid) that are unfamiliar with our meandering streets who naturally slow the traffic down.

Under no circumstance are you to drive across a bridge on the bayou. Please don’t do it. Water levels there will continue to fluctuate slightly, and the bridges are expected to be impassible again soon (no worse that before). They will probably go back and forth for a few days. They are closed until further notice by their jurisdictions and are being guarded by Texas DPS.

7: Mayoral editorialization on Channel 2 News coverage:

Channel 2 News. Tonight for about 10 minutes KPRC did its thing. They broadcast some of the most captivating aerial video footage of my hometown that I have ever seen, including, detailed and extended aerial footage of the Memorial area. Sincerest thanks to that organization for this effort. It was very informative factual video evidence delivered live. That helps.

Here’s the thing about Channel 2: you need to assure your right thumb is firmly atop the MUTE button while watching. During this exclusive LIVE and first-to-air video broadcasting, the anchors decided to become experts in a field where nobody is an expert: Natural Disasters. That doesn’t help.

I have watched Bill Balleza since I was a kid. I have always found him to be the most dependable voice on that network. I would have expected him to get the facts first, then deliver them accurately, especially at a time like this. I am glad he walked back his editorial comments, albeit much later and after the Villages were already alarmed by editorial innuendo.

I trust Frank Billingsley to analyze the water from the clouds to the ground. I’ll let the Corps and HCFC handle it from there.

Dominique Sachse showed us that real-time hydrological analysis is demonstrably not her strong suit. It would be great for her to stay in her lane. Or, at least, quickly return there once she knows she has strayed. For context, all this non-reporting about the Villages happened immediately before the actual experts were about to deliver their highly-informed actual-reporting.

Our third-party trash collector will not collect trash tomorrow, Saturday, August 26th due to operating issues including the closure of landfills due to Hurricane Harvey.

Their representatives have confirmed that Hedwig Village trash collection will resume immediately upon resumption of their operations (our city is first on the list) which, at the earliest, could be Monday, August 28th.

Their management will decide Sunday afternoon when they are able to resume services. We will forward more information to you Sunday late afternoon as we receive it.

8/24/2017 13:33 - NOTIFICATION: STORM HARVEY
▲

The City of Hedwig Village, in conjunction with the Village Fire Department as the Villages’ Emergency Management Coordinator, is closely monitoring the development of Tropical Storm Harvey and has begun preparations to ensure that we are equipped to respond to whatever severe weather may occur over the next few days. There is significant uncertainty concerning what to expect, so please pay close attention to the changing conditions of Tropical Storm Harvey.

As Tropical Storm Harvey nears our area, we all need to take steps to be ready for the effects of this major storm. We should prepare for heavy rainfall and moderate wind. The City will continue inspecting and clearing debris from storm drain inlets and drainage ditches along the major thoroughfares. We ask that you take a look at the inlets and drainage ditches on the side streets and near your home to remove any leaves or debris that could restrict storm water from entering the inlets or flowing through the drainage ditches.

So what can you do to prepare? Here are some tips:

Please do not park on the street if at all possible. Debris can get caught under cars and could impact emergency services response times.

You may want to lower the level of the water in your pool so that there is available room for heavy amounts of rain. Amounts up to 12” of rain have been predicted for our area. It is not recommended that you drain your pool completely as pools have been known to rise out of the ground when the soil is saturated. But lowering the level by 12 inches or less is generally safe.

As with any storm, have batteries and emergency lighting. The City does not manage or control the electrical service in our area. A great website to have is the CenterPoint Energy Electric Outage Center http://www.centerpointenergy.com/en-us/residential/services/electric-utility/outage-center?sa=ho. This website will provide you with information about known outages and expected restoration times. You can also sign up to receive automatic alerts on your phone at this site. Calling the City or our emergency services will not expedite the restoration of any electrical service.

Secure outdoor furniture and any other items that could become airborne should wind gusts hit the area. Please instruct your lawn care companies not to leave bags of lawn debris out during the storm as we have had previous issues with these bags floating and blocking inlets and ditches. Turn off your sprinkler system.

Keep in mind that typical household items, yard decorations, garbage bags or carts can block drainage systems during heavy rain events. Please bring in and secure items that are outside of your home so those items don’t create drainage problems for your neighbors.

If you have a pre-existing medical condition that you want to be sure the City’s emergency services are aware of in case this becomes an extended weather incident, please contact the non-emergency phone for the Police Department at 713-461-4797 and your information will be put on file.

In the event that you see trees or tree limbs down across streets that would impede access by emergency vehicles, please call 911.

If the streets become submerged, STAY HOME and off the roads as much as possible. Stay up-to-date on conditions through our local media and the City’s website at www.hedwigtx.com.

Thank You and Be Safe!!

Newsletter Archive

City of Hedwig Village
Located in the Memorial Villages
955 Piney Point Rd. Hedwig Village, TX 77024